Kamandi created by Jack Kirby. © DC Comics
Scientists have measured the rate of blood flow to the cognitive part of the brain, based on the size of the holes in the skull that passed the supply arteries.“Our study revealed a higher rate of blood flow to the cognitive part of the brain of living great apes compared to Australopithecus,” Professor Seymour said.
“At first, brain size seems reasonable because it is a measure of the number of neurons. On second thought, however, cognition relies not only on the number of neurons, but also on the number of connections between them, called synapses.”
“How does the intelligence of modern great apes stack up against that in our 3 million-year-old relatives, the australopithicines such as Lucy? Non-human great apes have smaller or equal sized brains compared to the size indicated by the fossil braincases of Australopithecus species, so Lucy is generally considered to have been smarter.”
“However, the study shows that cerebral blood flow rate of human ancestors falls well below the data derived from modern, non-human primates.”
Roger S. Seymour et al. 2019. Cerebral blood flow rates in recent great apes are greater than in Australopithecus species that had equal or larger brains. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 286 (1915)
